McNabb Turns It Around

Donovan McNabb’s dreadful effort last week was the worst thing that could have happened to Kansas City.

Determined to rebound, the third-year quarterback passed for 269 yards and two touchdowns Thursday night, leading Philadelphia past the Chiefs, 23-10, as the Eagles broke a 52-year-old team record with their eighth consecutive road victory.

It was the fifth victory away from home this season for Philadelphia (7-4).

“He’d been more focused since the beginning of the week,” said Duce Staley, who teamed with McNabb on a 46-yard scoring play following a huge mistake by Kansas City’s Eric Warfield.

In a 13-3 loss on Sunday to Washington, McNabb was 15 for 37. Against the Chiefs, he was 18 for 26.

“We sat down and talked about it and he said that he wasn’t going to repeat last week’s performance the rest of the season,” Staley said.

David Akers tied his Philadelphia record of 13 consecutive field goals, connecting from 24, 33 and 38 yards as the Eagles padded their lead over the Washington Redskins in the NFC East to 11/2 games.

“The past couple of weeks I wasn’t accurate on my passing because my balls were just getting away from me a little,” said McNabb, who also ran for 41 yards. “Because of the timing tonight we were able to open up the running game and open up the passing game.”

The Chiefs (3-8) should have had the ball and the momentum when Glenn Cadrez partially blocked a Philadelphia punt in the second quarter.

But Warfield muffed the ball. The Eagles retained possession on the Chief 41 and, two plays later, McNabb floated a pass to Staley for a touchdown and 10-0 lead.